


Miraculous Curses

by thatforgottenbasilisk



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Extra Powers, Angst, Future Character Death, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Identity Reveal, Secret Identity, Seer Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22315714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatforgottenbasilisk/pseuds/thatforgottenbasilisk
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous come with something extra. They may seem like gifts, but according to Adrien and Marinette, they're curses. Marinette has always kept her curse quiet. This is the end of the secrets.
Comments: 34
Kudos: 277





	1. The Seer

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had a gift. At least, others might think it was a gift. She thought it was more like a curse.

Marinette was cursed with the ability to see the future. One may think that she could see all of it; though, Marinette could only see one specific part of the future: she saw how people died.

She saw this by simply touching people with the bare skin of her hand, which was why she always wore gloves. She never told anyone what she saw. Ever.

The only other being to know about her curse was Tikki, her kwami. When she told Tikki about this, she in turn found out that a similar curse befell all past Ladybugs. All holders of one of the two most powerful Miraculous, the Ladybug and the Black Cat, held some kind of curse. Marinette already knew of the Ladybug curse, however, Tikki would not tell her what her partner, Chat Noir, had to suffer through.

Marinette always wore gloves, even in the sweltering heat of summer. Occasionally, she would be questioned about it, but most of the time it was simply regarded as one of her quirks.

Recently, however, everything that she did, said, or wore was being put under scrutiny by a new student, Lila Rossi. Lila Rossi was an awful liar, who had the class practically wrapped around her finger. Whenever Marinette tried to dispute her lies, she would either begin to cry crocodile tears, or turn Marinette’s scrutinizing attitude right back on her.

The only other person on Marinette’s side, who believed that Lila was a liar, was Marinette’s friend and crush, Adrien Agreste. He did not call Lila out on her lies directly, however, whenever she crossed a line, things would magically end up fixed within a day or two. Marinette had no idea that Adrien had anything to do with the “fixing things” thing, until she overheard him talking to Lila just after Marinette had been framed for wronging Lila in some way that she really didn’t bother to pay attention to anymore and had been given a two-week-long suspension. That afternoon, while walking in the park, she heard Adrien telling Lila in a very not-so-subtle tone to basically “leave Marinette the f*ck alone.” Marinette had been allowed to return to school the next day.

Lila hadn’t tried anything else for another week, which was a new record for her. Of course, when Lila came back, she came back strong.

It was on a Tuesday when Lila did what she did. Right at the beginning of Mme. Bustier’s lesson, Lila stood in front of the class.

“Good morning everyone. I am standing here in order to say that Marinette and I may have gotten off on the wrong foot, and I want to apologize for that. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I want to make up for whatever it was. Marinette, I am truly sorry for whatever I did to offend you. All I ask for is a handshake, to signify our new, good relationship.”

That was Lila, alright. Pretending to be all nice and innocent, while subtly making Marinette the bad guy. Of course, it also left no opening for protest, because if she was mean to Lila in front of the class, while she appeared to act repentant, then she really would look like the bad guy. Marinette had no choice but to stand and shake Lila’s hand.

“Why are you wearing gloves?! Is it because you don’t want to touch my hand? Do you really not like me that much, that you won’t even give me a chance?”

She turned on the crocodile tears, while simultaneously turning the rest of the class to her side, with some people shouting to take off the gloves. Nobody seemed to remember that she wore them all the time, Lila or no.

“Marinette, please take off your glove so that you are not offending Lila. She is apologizing, and for you to not accept it is not very nice.” Mme Bustier added to the protests of the class.

Marinette had been practically forced to take her glove off now. Is this what Lila wanted? To make Marinette uncomfortable in a way that Adrien could not force her to fix? Because Lila knew just as well as anyone that Marinette never took her gloves off.

Hesitantly, Marinette pulled her glove off of her hand and shook Lila’s, which was already outstretched.

At the moment of contact, Marinette’s vision was instantly overtaken by the sight of Lila, appearing a few years older, sitting on the bottom bunk inside of a jail cell. Her usual clothing had been replaced by a prison uniform, and the self-satisfied smirk that she always had was replaced with a downtrodden, hopeless look on her face. She had a black eye, a split bottom lip, and visible bruises on her arms. Her shirt was stained, likely from a bloody nose.

There was a sound like a key being twisted inside of a lock, and the cell door opened. A tall, muscular prisoner walked inside. Lila did not appear to recognize her. The woman walked towards Lila, smirking and cracking her knuckles. Lila attempted to back up towards the wall, but the woman pulled her out by the collar and punched her in the nose, hard enough to whip Lila’s head back while a crack was loudly heard. Lila turned her head to face the other woman again, and her nose was twisted in a way that it should not be, while the eye that had previously been uninjured was now darkening at an alarming rate.

“That was for my sister, you little bitch.”

The woman who had been holding Lila by the collar now let her drop to the ground. She began kicking Lila repeatedly, and didn’t stop until long after her chest had stopped making cracking sounds. There was blood on Lila’s mouth and chin, and it was dripping into a puddle on the floor. Lila, for her part, never even tried to fight back. Maybe she was too tired. Maybe she just was waiting for it to end. Lila’s eyes were closed, and she wasn’t moving. She wasn’t breathing.

The woman spit on Lila’s unconscious face. She left, closing the cell door and slipping the guard the key that had been used to open the cell.

Suddenly, Marinette was back. There was no trace of the older Lila in prison uniform; instead, Marinette saw a pale-faced Lila desperately attempting to wrest her hand from Marinette’s iron grip. Quickly, Marinette let go and rushed to her seat, shoving her glove back on as she sat.

It had been so long since Marinette had an incident like that. She had forgotten just how real it felt, to watch someone’s death. She had forgotten how she always held on with the hand that made contact with someone, until the vision was complete.

The rest of the class was uneventful, with Mme. Bustier deciding to forgo the daily compliments due to Lila and Marinette “making amends,” which was a kind enough gesture for everyone. 

Nothing happened until just before lunch, when Lila “happened” to go into the bathroom at the same time as Marinette was washing her hands.

“I tried to make things nice. I tried to make a truce, and yet you refused. First the gloves, then the refusal to end the handshake? This means war.”

Marinette dried her hands, not acknowledging Lila. Finally, she turned towards Lila, with a dead stare that saw too much, a stare that was done with seeing unpleasant things like Lila.

“Do you want to know how you die, Lila Rossi?”


	2. The Liar

Lila Rossi was having a somewhat bad day. First, she had to shake hands with Marinette Dupain-Cheng in order to appease Adrien, at least somewhat. If she could make him believe that she was actually sorry to Dupain-Cheng, then she may actually have a chance to get him off her ass about the lies. Ugh, he was always a goody-two-shoes, with “lying to people is wrong” this and “what did Marinette actually do to you besides tell the truth” that.

The highlight of her morning would have been when she finally forced Dupain-Cheng to take off one of her infernal gloves, if even for a moment. She always wore those things, so she was likely extremely wary of germs. If Lila could make her uncomfortable in a way that Adrien could not fix, all while openly declaring a “truce?” Perfect. When Lila came up with the plan, she was actually surprised by the sheer brilliance within it. However, carrying it out was a different story entirely.

The lead-up was going perfectly, with everyone falling for her crocodile tears about the gloves, and Mme. Bustier even stepped in on her behalf! Yes, the execution up to this point was flawless, and Dupain-Cheng was clearly uncomfortable to boot. Dupain-Cheng took her glove off slowly, then she slowly stretched her hand towards Lila’s eager one, which was already prepared to grip as hard as she possibly could.

Everything changed the moment Dupain-Cheng’s hand made contact.

The instant that Dupain-Cheng’s hand touched hers, Lila’s hand was trapped in a vice-like grip. Lila shook her hand for a moment, and then tried to pull away. It was subtle, at first, but Dupain-Cheng wouldn’t budge and she was forced to be a bit more open in her attempts to pry herself loose.

Lila looked up from Dupain-Cheng’s hand to her face. She expected a smirk of triumph, a look that said, “I am superior.” But that’s not what she got.

Dupain-Cheng was staring straight ahead, but she clearly wasn’t actually seeing what was in front of her. Her face was void of all emotion. She didn’t even look alive; if she weren’t breathing, then Lila would think she had somehow become a statue.

Lila could feel the blood drain from her face. That look on Dupain-Cheng’s face was _haunting._ It was _freaky,_ it was so incredibly out of character that Lila thought that Dupain-Cheng must be possessed.

Desperately, Lila attempted to wrest her hand out of the iron grip that it was in. It was useless; it was like trying to tug her hand out of a black hole, for it was just as inescapable as the situation she was currently in.

Suddenly, as though a bolt of lightning had just been sent through her, Dupain-Cheng snapped back to reality. She immediately saw Lila attempting to free herself, and immediately letting go and running back to her seat. Lila had no choice but to stalk back to her own seat.

Lila had been left to plot and stew for the rest of class. She hadn’t made herself appear superior; instead she had been shown up. This was an inexcusable offense.

Lila couldn’t do anything until just before lunch, when she saw Dupain-Cheng duck into the bathroom. She waited for a few moments, and when she was certain that Dupain-Cheng would be washing her hands at this point, she walked inside.

“I tried to make things nice. I tried to make a truce, and yet you refused. First the gloves, then the refusal to end the handshake? This means war.” 

Lila was here to intimidate, and yet her target didn’t even bother to acknowledge her? It was just insult after insult today, wasn’t it? Every moment that Dupain-Cheng spent drying her hands, completely ignoring Lila, simply added fuel to the fire that was the rage of Lila Rossi. Nobody should ignore her like this! She should be feared, respected, _revered!_ Nobody should dare to disrespect her like this!

Finally, Dupain-Cheng turned towards Lila, with a look in her eyes that screamed of exhaustion. This should be easy, then; Dupain-Cheng would easily be put in her place at the bottom of the class, while Lila would resume her role at the top.

“Do you want to know how you die, Lila Rossi?” 

That made Lila’s blood run cold. The previous fire of her rage had been doused by the chill of fear that ran down her spine. The girl in front of her seemed deadly serious, with the exhausted look in her eyes now carrying a new meaning: “I’m tired, but I’m more tired of you.” The way that she asked that question - some said that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a force to be reckoned with. Lila supposed that she was going to be finding out why. Of course, nobody would be able to say that she went down without a fight.

“Are you threatening me?”

Perfect execution. Lila’s tone didn’t betray even an infinitesimal speck of the fear that Dupain-Cheng’s question had brought. 

“No. You only wish I was. I am going to ask you one more time - do you want to know how you die?”

What was she playing at? What was she trying to accomplish here - try to scare Lila out of besting her in class? Not a chance.

“No thanks, I’d rather not entertain the delusions of someone trying to get into her emo phase.”

“Are you sure? Because you might want to know some enlightening things that I learned this morning.”

This _morning?_ What the hell kind of drugs were in Dupain-Cheng’s system?

“What do you mean, this morning?”

“The glove incident in Mme. Bustier’s class? I’m sure you remember, or have you suddenly developed short-term memory loss with your tinnitus? But that’s besides the point. What I’m really trying to get at, Lila, is that you only have about 5 years, 10 at the most.”

So Dupain-Cheng was trying to scare her. Fine. She’ll go with this.

“So what’s gonna happen? Let me guess - you kill me and then make out with Adrien, huh? Guess what, short stack - your daydreams aren’t real.”

“No. You’re in prison, and _god_ you look miserable. Some beefy lady beats you to a pulp, says it’s revenge for her sister.”

Lila could almost laugh it off, except for the look in Dupain-Cheng’s eyes. There’s no triumphant gleam, there’s nothing but pure honesty. Lila feels a chill run down her spine again, and she might visibly shiver. Because as she looks deeper into the eyes of the girl she called her enemy, there’s a quality about them, a quality that she would bet her whole reputation that Dupain-Cheng does her damnedest to hide it - they look _haunted._ They look like they’ve seen too much, like they’ve seen too many bad things and not nearly enough good.

“Before you ask, I don’t think you can change it. When I was younger, I would purposely find out how people died, then do my best to change it - but the end was always the same. I implore you to try, for your own sake at least. I truly hope you change it.”

Lila didn’t know what to think. Should she believe this? Should she simply brush it off as a failed intimidation technique and go on with her life?

“How do you know this?”

“Simple. I touch someone with my hand, and then I see how they die. It’s why I always wear gloves, and also why I froze up this morning.”

“And why - exactly - should I believe you?”

“You shouldn’t. By all accounts, it’s ridiculous. But if Ladybug and Chat Noir are real, then why can’t a random girl be cursed to see death?”

“Why shouldn’t I go and tell everyone that you threatened me? After all, you did just spend about a full minute talking about how I’m going to die.”

Dupain-Cheng simply scoffed. She began walking towards Lila, and put her gloved hand - she hadn’t even noticed her putting them back on - on Lila’s forearm. Dupain-Cheng stood on her tiptoes, with her lips near Lila’s ear, like she was going to tell her the secrets of the Universe. She whispered, so softly that Lila had to strain to hear:

“Because nobody will ever believe you.”

She let go and left the bathroom, leaving Lila to stare after her and wonder if this was some kind of elaborate joke.


	3. The Listener

Adrien Agreste was not having a pleasant morning.

First, he had to get up at 5:00 AM after staying up until 4 browsing the Ladyblog. Admittedly, that was his own fault, but he still didn’t like it.

He obtained coffee on his way to school, which only kind of worked. He didn’t feel like he was about to fall asleep, but he did feel just as tired.

His day only got worse when he saw Liar Rossi in the classroom. At least she wasn’t talking yet, so he wasn’t having to deal with the pleasures of her _bullshit_.

Adrien hated liars. Adrien hated lies. He hated liars because they gave him a headache; literally. Oh, the joys of being Adrien Agreste, human lie detector.

Hearing lies always sent pain rocketing through Adrien’s skull. The worse the lie, the worse the pain. Adrien couldn’t lie, either. Technically, he could, if he tried, but the pain was too great. It felt as though a sledgehammer was beating at not only his brain, but his whole head.

Once, he asked Plagg about it. Apparently, all of the other Chat Noirs had a similar condition. Ladybug also had something, but not what Adrien had. At least they weren’t suffering alone.

Adrien could only hope that Lila wouldn’t try anything today. She had been having such a good week, and Adrien was able to sit near Marinette and have some pleasant conversation while remaining conveniently out of earshot of headache-causing liars.

The bell rang to signify the start of class. Marinette had just rushed in, and why was Lila standing up? Why was she standing at the front of the room? Adrien could practically feel the headache already, before she even opened her slimy little mouth.

“Good morning everyone. I am standing here in order to say that Marinette and I may have gotten off on the wrong foot, and I want to apologize for that. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I want to make up for whatever it was. Marinette, I am truly sorry for whatever I did to offend you. All I ask for is a handshake, to signify our new, good relationship.” 

That was painful. Granted, it wasn’t as painful as the Jagged Stone Thing, or the Tinnitus Thing, or the Napkin Thing...yeah, this one was rather mild in comparison. Does she actually want some kind of truce? He’ll mull over that when he has more sleep. For now, Adrien just has to hope that she doesn’t lie anymore or he might have to break out the technically-not-allowed pain medication. He’d emptied nearly half his bottle already since the arrival of Liar Rossi, and he was not planning on opening it again.

The exchange between Lila and Marinette was tense, but, thankfully, honest. He supposed that it only technically qualified as “honest” because all Lila did was ask questions, but it didn’t add to his misery so he didn’t particularly care beyond that.

He noticed that, while Marinette and Lila were shaking hands (poor Marinette. Having to take her gloves off when she clearly didn’t want to, and now having to touch that awful girl’s hand? He truly felt bad for her), Marinette seemed to tense up. It only lasted for a moment or so, and he thought that he was probably the only one to notice, besides Lila and Marinette.

People were blissfully honest throughout the rest of the class, so Adrien only had to contend with his tiredness by the time lunch rolled around. He was on his way to the cafeteria for lunch, lingering slightly behind because he could hardly keep his head up, when he passed by the girl’s bathroom. Within it, he heard the unmistakable sound of Marinette’s voice.

“Do you want to know how you die, Lila Rossi?” 

If that didn’t wake him up, he doubted that anything would. He stood bolt upright, pressing his ear against the door in a way that he hoped didn’t look suspicious.

In response, he heard Lila’s voice, exuding just a touch too much confidence; she was afraid.

“Are you threatening me?” 

Adrien listened to the whole conversation. He almost couldn’t believe his ears - but he didn’t feel even the smallest trace of pain. This was _real._ Marinette - wonderful Marinette, who really didn’t need to be cursed with death-sight in addition to being cursed with Lila - could see how people died.

Adrien was still in shock; he just barely managed to avoid getting bowled over by Marinette, who was leaving after answering Lila’s question with something unintelligible. She likely wasn’t paying him much attention, either, because she simply kept walking away from the bathroom.

“Marinette!”

Adrien whisper-yelled, and rushed to catch up to the girl. He caught her on her forearm, just above her wrist. She stopped walking, and turned towards him.

“I just heard everything you told Lila.”

Marinette went pale. Immediately, she began stuttering something that was probably supposed to be a lie to cover herself, but it wasn’t clear enough to actually be any kind of real statement and thus, allowed Adrien to keep his pain medicine closed.

Gently, he placed one finger over her lips. He didn’t touch her lips, but it sent the message effectively enough.

“We need to speak somewhere, privately.”

He gently pulled her towards a supply closet that wasn’t too far from the cafeteria; it was one of his favorites to use to transform in, due to its convenient location.

He whisked her inside, and closed the door. He flicked on the light switch, and a dim bulb shone in the close space.

“I know that you probably didn’t want other people to know. But, due to the circumstances, I think it was inevitable that someone else was going to find out. That’s not what I wanted to talk about, though.”

Adrien sucked in a breath; he had never told anyone this before, nobody except for Plagg, who really didn’t count. Sure, he’d had headaches when he was younger, but he discovered the cause long before any adults did, and was able to cover damage control fairly effectively.

“You have weird powers; so do I. I know that you were telling Lila the truth about the death-seeing-thing because I’m practically a human lie detector. I always know when people are lying.”

Marinette took a small step backwards, as far as she could without crashing into the shelf behind her.

“B-But...that doesn’t make any sense! Why don’t you call Lila out, if you know when she’s lying?”

“Because she’s the kind of person who won’t listen to reason. If she’s ever going to change, she needs to engineer her own downfall, or she’ll blame everyone but herself. She’ll probably blame everyone else when she falls, anyways; she’s the kind of person who’ll never accept responsibility.”

“I - I need some time to process this. Let’s just go have a nice, normal lunch, okay?”

“That sounds fine with me, Mari.”

Adrien opened the door to the supply closet, doing a funny little bow as Marinette walked past him. She giggled, and his small, goofy smirk became a large smile.

Unfortunately, that lunch would not go as well as it appeared at first sight. It seemed that Lila had decided to deal with the confrontation by ignoring it, and proceeding to tell so many lies that Adrien thought his head might burst.

It went on for an hour. The cafeteria was full; by some sheer, awful coincidence, another large group of students had their lunch combined with theirs. Adrien, as a result, was forced to sit close enough to Lila that he heard every falsehood that dripped out of her disgusting mouth.

Finally, as the bell was about to ring, Adrien was going to pull Lila aside in order to privately ask her to _please, for the love of god, stop lying for the rest of today or so help him he was going to have a freaking aneurysm._

Emphasis on “was going to.”

Lila, with all of the wisdom of a baby naked mole rat, decided that she was going to try to weasel her way out of confrontation.

By _lying_.

Adrien saw red. He wasn’t even sure of what he said, by the end of it; all that he knew was that Lila was making sure daggers drove into every neuron in his brain and he wanted it to _stop_.

After the event, which will later become known as the Adrien-Actually-Inherited-Something-From-His-Father Incident, Lila ran away crying, and Adrien was sure that an akuma was on its way.

Oh, joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you inevitably saying "Adrien's so ooc, he'd never actually be this angry in canon!"  
> In canon, he hasn't had to suffer through killer headaches _on the daily,_ which are magnified by the extent of Lila's lies (so much. so many lies) while also running on one hour of sleep.  
> Later, he'll cheer up, but that will be when it's well-rested Adrien that doesn't have to deal with chronic head pain.


	4. The Villain

Hawkmoth knew that today would be monumental. He felt it this morning, with a malicious plot on one side, and emotions threatening to boil over on the other. In the middle of the two was his target.

She was the perfect akuma. Creative, resourceful, and _kind._

In his time as Hawkmoth, Gabriel Agreste had learned a great many things. One of the most important lessons that he’d had so far was also one of his first:

_Watch out for the kind ones, because they’re the ones who’ll wreck you._

Yes, everything was going perfectly. He sent the akuma out early; it watched as the young Dupain-Cheng girl was forced to make herself uncomfortable for the “benefit” of one person.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t uncomfortable _enough._

If he was going to make her an akuma, then he was going to do it right. She was one of the very few that had the same kind of potential as Audrey. Of course, that hadn’t worked out well; but she had gotten close.

So very close.

So he was going to do this akuma justice.

He soon regretted sending out the akuma early, however; he didn’t have the same ability to spy on events that triggered strong emotions than when an akuma had yet to be made.

Some kind of confrontation happened between Mlle. Dupain-Cheng and the Rossi girl. It was incredibly unfortunate that he wasn’t privy to it; all that he could feel was the emotion; and only Rossi had the emotion necessary to be an akuma. 

He could feel more tension brewing, however. His son was volatile; he had been, recently. Ever since the arrival of the Rossi girl.

He would look into it. Perhaps between a few meetings this week.

So he sent his akuma to wait just outside of the cafeteria of the school. It could not go inside, for it would then cause a mass panic, leading one of the superheroes to quickly release it so that he could not evilize anyone.

Finally, just as he was going to recall it and try another time, he felt it. Powerful emotions had finally been released, and he could tell that they had been bottled up for a long time.

He instructed his akuma to go closer, possibly to evilize this person. He could tell that there was great potential in it; perhaps this was Mlle. Dupain-Cheng?

As he was finally able to glimpse the situation, he found, to his surprise, that it was his _son._

Perhaps he needed to rethink his policy of not akumatizing him.

Not now, however; his son would not get the leftovers of an akuma meant for someone else. If his son was going to be one of his akumas, then it must be perfect. Everything must fall into place for him - it would not be a crime of opportunity.

That would only be as a last resort, of course.

Today, the recipient of the failed ambition of Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s akuma would be Rossi, once again.

“Mademoiselle Rossi. Your great plans have been thwarted by those who are too weak to find the power that you have gained. I will give you the ability to conquer all of them, to make sure that you are never humiliated like that again - I only ask for one thing in return.”

“I will give you the Miraculous this time, Hawkmoth. I will not fail.”

“Then do not disappoint me, Riflessa.”


	5. The Pawn

Riflessa could see the world in perfect clarity. She saw her classmates, her allies, her enemies. She saw everyone; she saw what made everyone tick.

Riflessa found a nearby mirror to admire herself in. She looked _perfect._

She looked like she had before, but different. Her gaze was sharper, and her eyes were accentuated by black cat-eye eyeliner, sharp enough to cut someone. Her lips were coated in a beautiful black lipstick, darker than the deepest reaches of the Universe. 

Instead of her usual outfit, Riflessa wore a gorgeous black dress. The bodice was composed of a corset, with golden laces at the front. The skirt was a full-length circle skirt, which covered her 2-inch d’Orsay heels. Her hands were covered by silken wrist-length black gloves, with golden thread weaving intricate designs on the hems.

Her right hand held what was, presumably, her weapon.

It appeared to be a small compact mirror. She knew, upon taking a moment to think about it, that she should not look at it; it held the power to change people.

Of course, it always took a moment or two to learn her powers; but this was by far the longest it had yet taken.

The mirror could “reflect” people. Of course - with her name she’d suspect nothing different. When a person was “reflected,” they acted like the complete opposite of themselves - rather like Reverser, but not specific qualities of someone; just their most recognizable traits. If she hit Marinette, she’d be mean, and if she hit Chloe, she’d be nice.

Time to wreak some havoc.

Riflessa strutted towards the cafeteria, where her classmates certainly were. She’ll hit enough people to cause a scene, get Ladybug and Chat Noir here - now _that_ would be fun.

In the meantime, maybe she could grow her classmates a few brain cells.

When someone was Reflected, they didn’t outwardly show it. The only thing to tell a passing observer that yes, someone had been hit, was how they acted. No change was made in the appearances of those who were Reflected.

Her first targets were those who were just outside of the cafeteria, because there was no _way_ that she would go in there. Then she would just tip her hand! Completely idiotic. 

Immediately, a couple began to claw at each other’s throats, while a small group of girls began to shriek and bang on lockers.

Things were going great.

Of course, Ladybug and her sidekick had to show up. Wonderful.

Riflessa managed to keep to the shadows, Reflecting those who crossed her path but always keeping away from the so-called “heroes.”

If only Dupain-Cheng or Adrien could appear around the next corner. She desperately wanted to Reflect them, though she could not quite think of why it would benefit her strategy. Certainly, they would cause chaos, but why did she want to hit them specifically?

Now that she thought of it, why did those two stick out to her at all? Usually, she knew exactly why she felt a certain way towards someone, even as an akuma; today her mind felt blank.

Had she recently fought with one of them? Both of them?

Either way, Chat Noir had just been glimpsed from the corner of her eye. He looked utterly clueless! Those “heroes” probably had no idea what they were even up against.

She shifted, ever so slightly, so that from her place in the shadows she could see him perfectly.

She lined up the shot with her compact.

Ready.

Aim.

_Fire._

Riflessa’s perfect marksmanship struck again; now, all she desired was popcorn with which to watch this train wreck.


	6. The Hero

Ladybug was not paid enough to deal with this shit. She wasn’t paid at all, actually, and sometimes that really freaking sucked.

Like today, for example. She had scared Lila pretty badly (always a plus), and had just had a really nice lunch with her crush. Now she had to deal with chaos that was probably created by an akuma, one that was actually good at hiding itself.

She’d bet 10 Euros it was Lila.

She and Chat had just split up to cover more ground; look for anyone suspicious, and attempt to get the victims out of the way.

She looked at her yoyo, making sure that he had been taking the search route that they had planned, when she noticed that he was moving in the completely wrong direction.

Of course, she should have known: he doesn’t go to her school, he was bound to get lost. Rolling her eyes, she began making her way over to where Chat was probably looking around, trying not to seem lost.

Ladybug quickly rushed over to Chat, finding him standing perfectly straight, eyes darting around, looking like he was looking for something.

Something was wrong.

Chat’s face snapped to hers, and he broke into a feral grin.

“Ladybug!”

He sauntered over to her, his gait faux-casual. He was tense, though he attempted to appear relaxed.

Something was very wrong.

Ladybug took a step backwards, while raising her hands in front of herself defensively.

He stopped right in front of her, just barely inside of her personal space; just barely close enough to be _too close._

He leered down at her, though he clearly thought that he was acting natural.

“Chat -”

He snatched her wrist with his clawed hand. He leaned in, close enough that she could smell his cologne.

“Stop it, Chat -”

He whipped one clawed finger up to her face. He placed it over her lips.

“Shhh.”

Ladybug was _not_ dealing with this. Chat had to have been hit by whatever akuma was running around, and quite frankly he was starting to creep her out. She crept her free hand down to her yoyo, and, when he was too focused on... _whatever_ he was thinking about, she attacked.

Her yoyo cord wrapped around his torso, snapping both of his arms to his sides and forcing him to let go of her wrist. His eyes flashed, and his grin turned into a snarl.

“No! Your Miraculous will be mine!”

So he had been planning on taking her earrings. He’d hesitated so long because he must have been trying to come up with a plan on the fly - however the akuma affected him, it wasn’t directly controlling him.

“Not today, kitty cat!”

She threw her yoyo, launching him out of the school, where he would hopefully take a bit to come back, by which time the akuma would be defeated.

Hopefully.

“Lucky Charm!”

She didn’t have time to deal with this akuma, and her Lucky Charm had never failed her yet.

“Enough with the games, Ladybug! Cataclysm!”

That was a lot faster than anticipated; he must have caught himself using his baton.

“I will have your Miraculous! Ultimate power will be mine!”

Ladybug turned to face him, yoyo spinning at her side, with her lucky charm in her hand.

It was a small handheld mirror.

Ladybug was beginning to think that she would have to fight Chat directly, when she caught a glimmer in her peripheral vision.

A glance to her left, and she saw Lila - but she looked like she was dressed up for some kind of costume party. She was holding some kind of compact mirror; one that looked like it could be weaponized.

This left Ladybug with one conclusion: she was getting really good at Spot-the-Akuma.

At once, a plan formulated itself in her mind, and a smirk played at her lips. She rather liked this plan.

“Hey kitty, you want my earrings? Come and get ‘em!”

She stopped spinning her yoyo, in just enough time for Lila to aim her compact at her. Chat, meanwhile, began to run at her, full-force, Cataclysm outstretched.

Lila took her shot. Ladybug aimed her mirror at her, reflecting the shot right back into Lila’s eyes, blinding her.

“Agh!”

Ladybug rushed over to Lila, in just enough time to throw her in front of a still-running Chat. His Cataclysm got her compact, just as she thought it would - and as she should have expected, no butterfly came flying out.

Just like Lila to make her job as difficult as necessary.

Fortunately for Ladybug, Lila was still disoriented by the misdirected shot into her eyes. This gave her time to search for any more objects that could have held the akuma.

Ladybug ripped out Lila’s hair tie; her hair was still up, and it was the only other object on her that she could have had before being an akuma.

She broke the hair tie, letting the purple butterfly lazily flit out of the tie.

They were very pretty. She watched it fly, for a moment; admiring it. Then, she readied her yoyo, caught it, and cleansed it.

“Bye bye, little butterfly.”

She took her Lucky Charm, and threw it into the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Magical ladybugs flew out of the Charm, fixing everything damaged and restoring everyone who had been affected back to their normal states.

Her earring beeped somewhat urgently; she only had about 2 minutes left, if she had to estimate. Her and Chat’s Miraculous had been allowing a bit more time recently, but she wasn’t about to test it. 

She saw Chat lying on the ground, still looking rather disoriented. She reached her hand down to him, allowing him to grab it. She hoisted him up off the floor, offering her fist when he was fully upright.

“Pound it!”

As they were about to separate, something seemed to occur to Chat. He caught her on the arm, far more gently than he had earlier, and asked,

“Can we meet up later? Tonight?”

There was an urgency in his voice, like he had something that he desperately needed her to know. Or needed to know.

“Chat, I don’t know if I can...”

“Please?”

He looked at her with those kitten eyes that she couldn’t resist, and she caved.

“Where?”

“That rooftop, the one with Glaciator. You know the one.”

The one that he’d set up with candles, the one that he’d shown her both as Ladybug and as Marinette. 

“Yes. When?”

“Midnight okay with you?”

It was a bit later than she’d like, but she knew that it was probably the earliest that he could escape. Chat was always impatient, he would probably schedule something like this for as soon as possible.

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll see you tonight, MiLady. 'Til then,” he mimed himself tipping an invisible hat to her, “I must bid you adieu!”

He hopped away on his baton, and she zipped off on her yoyo, so that she could detransform in time for her next class.


	7. The Accidental Detective

Chat Noir was not prepared for this. He really should’ve thought this through - he did not have nearly enough sleep for this. Nor did he have any kind of real evidence for his conclusion. Which was really more of a hunch.

This was a disaster of cataclysmic proportions.

His midnight meeting with his Lady had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, one that he had made while riding the post-akuma adrenaline high that he most certainly would not have when the time for the meeting came around. He was running on about an hour of sleep and as much caffeine as he was allowed to have - that is to say, one cup of coffee, that had undoubtedly worn off by now. Fortunately for him, Chat had ample experience in _bending_ the rules, if not outright breaking them.

Which was why he was racing around the rooftops at 11 at night in a blaze of sleep-deprived and highly caffeinated glory. His brain was tired as hell, but the rest of his body was raring to go. His heart rate was probably off the charts - but by Kwami his brain was gonna go offline any second now. The coffee that was probably a good percentage of his bloodstream wouldn’t let his eyes close, which was probably good for the fact that he did _not_ want to be caught unawares when transformed, as that could very easily turn into a ‘lets-take-Chat-Noir’s-ring-and-find-out-his-secret-identity’ scenario. Otherwise known as a catastrophe.

It was only an hour until he would be at the rooftop for Ladybug. He’d have scheduled the meeting earlier, but he overestimated how long it would take to procure some of The Good Stuff™.

Kwami, he needed sleep.

Of course, he couldn’t just crash on a random rooftop - he could be late! Or the aforementioned catastrophe scenario. Or any number of different XK-Class End of the World scenarios. He’d say CK-Class (for Chat Noir, obviously), but those were specifically for the restructuring of reality, and could be any level of apocalyptic madness. He had shamefully (and obviously) been browsing the SCP Database on his baton when he really should’ve been making his way towards the designated rooftop, but nobody really needs to know, right?

Midnight was drawing closer as Chat began to extend his baton so that he could head to the meeting place.

When he dropped in from his baton, it was 3 minutes until midnight. Ladybug was already there, facing the opposite direction. She hadn’t heard him, evidently.

“Good evening to you, MiLady.” He swept into an elegant bow as Ladybug turned to face him. He took her hand in his, managing to lightly ghost his lips over her knuckles before she pulled away. He stood up as she spoke her first words of the night.

“Good evening to you too, kitty.”

Her voice was beautiful. It always was, it sounded like a chorus of angels.

“What are we doing on this fine night?”

He was leaning against the railing of the roof, facing the river, as Ladybug moved to stand next to him. Chat looked over at her, the lights from the buildings across the Seine reflecting off the water and washing her face in a warm glow. Her eyes were bright, looking over the railings in a way that he had seen before.

A way that he’d seen on someone else’s face.

This was all the evidence that he needed for his hunch. It didn’t matter that it seemed ridiculous, it didn’t matter that he had had too little sleep and too much caffeine to be capable of actual rational thought, it didn’t matter that if he was right then it would change everything.

“I’m here to apologize.”

Ladybug looked genuinely confused. This was reasonable, as he hasn’t done anything objectionable to her as Chat. At least, not recently (he still cringed at how he had acted during Frozer).

“Why’s that, Chaton?”

It was time to be honest. Well, not that he’d ever been dishonest, considering the fact that he physically couldn’t, but it was time to be a bit more open than he had been. He knew who she was, and she deserved to know that he knew.

“I didn’t do enough about Lila. She made us both suffer, but I had the power to help you more, and I didn’t. I was a bit of a coward. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Ladybug only appeared more confused.

“Y-You mean that girl who became Riflessa? What’s she got to do with this? What do you mean she’s been hurting us? All akumas fight us, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was intentional on her part.”

Chat was beginning to grow worried. What if he was wrong? She wasn’t connecting the right dots, and she appeared to have very little familiarity with the orange terror.

Except she’d stuttered. Ladybug hardly ever did that, unless she was nervous or she was hiding something. She wasn’t outright lying, but there was something there that she didn’t want Chat to know about. 

“She hurt you today. She forced you to take your glove off, didn’t she? You saw how she died. That’s not something you can just brush off, Marinette.”

There. He said it. He said her name. Not to mention, he also spoke about her powers - ones that she’d never told anyone about, presumably. He could only hope that her reaction wasn’t too severe.

He looked back at her face, turning his head from his view of the Seine. Her skin had gone pale, and her mouth was slightly agape. She was stood completely still. Finally, after what felt like hours, she spoke.

“Adrien?”

The world didn’t end with a bang, or a scream. It ended with a whisper. The kind of whisper passed between two people who knew that they had crossed a line that they could never go back over.

His world ended with that whisper. There was no going back now. He didn’t know if this meant they’d have to give up their Miraculous, or if Hawkmoth could target them far more easily. He knew that his whole world was now fractured, mere moments away from falling apart.

But all the best flowers grow in sidewalk cracks.


	8. The Goddess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!!! guess what!!! im back!!!

Tikki hated what her holders had to go through. All of them had to suffer, not to mention what poor Plagg’s kittens had!

If she could do anything to stop it, she would have done it thousands of years ago. She was sure that Plagg would do the same; maybe not for some of his past holders (many of those people were questionable at best), but this young boy, Adrien...she hadn’t seen Plagg get so attached to one of his kits in such a long time.

As it stood, however, there was nothing that she or Plagg could do about it. The curse was an intrinsic part of the enchantments upon the Miraculous jewels: those destined for power must pay through suffering. It was part of the balance of the Universe. Unfortunately.

All that Tikki could do was make it easier on her bugs. Magically keep their gloves undamaged, explain anything and everything about it to them -- that is, if they hadn’t figured it out themselves.

It was her influence that helped all Miraculous holders keep their curses secret. She didn’t need to do much: a tiny whisper here, a little nudge there. Enough to convince whatever small child that would hold a Miraculous next that they should keep their curses quiet. And, of course, let them believe that they had thought of it themselves. She had been particularly proud of her work on the future Fox; the girl had been quite the loudmouthed child. Some things never change, Tikki sometimes thought to herself.

Her current bug, Marinette, didn’t know that anyone else had a curse, besides Chat Noir. The reason for this was twofold: first of all, Marinette needed to think that she chose her backup heroes on her own, no destiny involved. Second of all, she and Chat Noir were the only ones with any kind of curse of that caliber.

Miraculous jewels, and, by extension, the Kwamis, were not equally powerful. The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous were the most powerful, followed by the inner circle of five, followed by the Zodiac. As holders were destined for these, the suffering that they had to endure was balanced by the amount of power held by the Miraculous that they would hold.

That didn’t mean that someone with a curse couldn’t hold a different Miraculous than the one that they were destined for; they simply couldn’t hold one with more power. It was also not advised for one to hold a Miraculous of lesser power for too long; either of these would result in the upset of the Universal balance, which was objectively bad.

Tikki had never been a big fan on the Universe’s constant need for balance. She could understand the big things: her creation needed Plagg’s destruction, the light of the stars needed the darkness of space. The small things, however, she couldn’t justify. Little humans shouldn’t have to suffer so much to harness her powers! They were all so fragile, and they gained their curses so young, it didn’t seem right.

Sometimes, though, she enjoyed the balance of the Universe. Whenever one of her bugs learned the identity of Plagg’s kitten, or vice versa, the other was never far behind. Mutual identity reveals were always lovely to behold, and she never grew tired of watching them.

This one was no exception. She loved watching Adrien connect the dots, the tiny twitch of his lips into the smallest of smiles when he was sure he was right, the nervous duck of his head when he was apologizing -- Plagg’s kitten was just the cutest little thing!

When Marinette and Adrien detransformed after their little reveal, Tikki didn’t hesitate to zoom around both of their heads, bubbling with happiness. Plagg simply floated in place by his kit, fondly rolling his eyes at her.

“Woah! Tikki, I thought you were against us revealing our identities!”

Tikki answered her bug, after settling herself in Adrien’s hair (she was pleased to find that it was as fluffy as it looked).

“I wasn’t against the idea of it, Marinette. Whenever the subject came up, I always knew that it wasn’t the right time. The Universe has a time for everything, and now is the time for reveals!”

Plagg rolled his eyes again, with the comment of, “Sugarcube is mushier than Camembert when it comes to these. Trust me, if she could hurry it along, she _would._ ”

Tikki flew out of Adrien’s hair for just long enough to give Plagg a firm whack on the head, then flew back to where she had been comfortably sat before. Adrien and Marinette both laughed at the antics of their Kwamis, before settling back into a comfortable silence.

“I’m glad it’s you, Adrien.”

“I’m happy it’s you, too, Princess.”

Marinette blushed a bit, and glanced over at the Seine again. Looking back over at her partner, she asked, “Do you really mean it?”

“Mari, I am physically incapable of lying. I mean it, with my whole heart. I’m so, so glad, that you’re my partner, and I couldn’t ask for anyone better. Cat’s honor.”

Marinette giggled a bit, and hugged Adrien close. She pressed her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Adrien hugged her back, with equal, if not greater, force.

Things were peaceful and quiet. Tikki was comfortably watching the two young heroes share a moment under the stars, Plagg was just barely polite enough to not interrupt, and the night around them was silent. The only sound was the wind, rustling a few of the leaves on some trees below, until --

_Crash!!!_

Adrien and Marinette instantly jumped apart, heads snapping in the direction of the sound. It was too far away to see clearly, but there was an undefined mess beneath a large cloud of dust, all right next to a sudden lack of wall on the side of a nearby building.

Marinette looked up at Adrien. Adrien looked down at Marinette. Both were thinking the same thing --

“Tikki, Spots On!"

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lots of lore dump lmaooo


End file.
